Comedy Growing Up

Every so often when I'm going through autobiographies or even just talking to my friends, I feel like I missed out because I didn't watch a lot of the classic sitcoms growing up (I've never seen an episode of Seinfeld). My family was bigger into music appreciation than making sure I had a well rounded tv education, but there are some exceptions that I think explain some of how my humor developed.

1) Pee Wee's Playhouse- We had almost all the episodes on VHS, and I have seen every one of them. It's quirky and different and hilarious all in it's very own way. I don't think as an adult you can get into Pee Wee quite the same way without adding the nostalgia, but I love it.
How did this shape me?: I think yelling is funny (which is hilarious because I hate loud noises and loud people, but yelling to be funny always makes me laugh. It's also probably why I like Will Farrell sometimes). It also gave me an appreciation for the boldly weird.

2) Dr Demento- or rather, the individual artists in his collections. I was raised on songs like "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park' and "Dead Puppies aren't much fun" and "Fishheads," which again, I'm not sure you can appreciate if you weren't raised on the weirdness.
How did this shape me?: Mostly I think it gave me an appreciation for macabre humor.

3) Weird Al- I think he remains pretty well and relevant, but his music inspired a lot of poorly written covers and made up songs in the Greene family. He was so clever, and most of his music came from songs I didn't know the originals of (I still remember hearing Like a Virgin for the first time and still singing Like a Surgeon). 

How did this shape me?: It introduced me to the world of parody!

4) The Muppets- The Muppets were probably the first variety show I ever saw, and they have been a staple in my house my whole life. You never grow out of the muppets. I couldn't even begin to list everything I learned from them. 

Favorite Comedy Moments: Swedish Chef, Literal News Anchor, Lew and his Boomerang Fish, Statler and Waldorf's heckling, and Sam the Eagle always being a stick in the mud. 

5) MST3K: A bunch of robots and a guy heckling really bad old movies. This is actually what it's like to watch a movie with The Greene's anyway, but having it done for us is still hilarious (you just have to skip through the parts in between when they're in their spaceship). A bunch of the movies are on youtube for free, so if you haven't seen them grab some friends and enjoy. These are the best movies for talking over and heckling with. I recommend The Horrors of Spider Island.
How did this shape me?: I don't think it gets to take responsibility for my love of heckling (that probably goes to my uncle PAG) but it was still there. Comedic timing, that's probably something it should have credit for.

BONUS:
I don't know where to put Ray Stevens (was he part of a Dr Demento collection somewhere?), but he always makes me laugh. I should have done this for a talent show. I love Clyde the Camel.